How Identical is Identical?

17th July 2014
My two P’s are supposed to be identical. We found at our 12 week scan that we were expecting twins and the sonographer couldn’t be certain, but as pretty confident that they were identical. Why you ask – here comes the science! 

 

Identical Twins are known as monozygotic twins. This is where a single egg is fertilised by a single sperm – then splits exactly in half, creating two identical DNA sharing babies. They share the same blood type – and are the same sex. Now you may laugh at this, but the amount of my twitter friends with boy/girl twins who get asked if their twins are identical is crazy. For easy reference – NO. One has a willy & the other doesn’t, OK? Lets move on.

 

 

Identical twins usually are in their own sac yet share a placenta. Our original sonographer also presumed they were ID as there was one free floating membrane that separated our two babies – this, along with the single placenta, is usually the way that they tell if they’re identical. The hospital usually sex the babies too to be sure, but we had this done privately as I was too impatient! 
None scientists – you can look back now. 

 

 
Anyhow, identical twins! How on earth was I ever going to tell them apart? Googling ID twins was no use as all I got was images of Jedward and bloody hell they really are identical. Many people suggested painting a toenail, but I thought I’d wait and see. Surely a Mom can tell, right?? Luckily, P1 was 6lb and P2 was 7lb1 and the weight difference really helped. And despite switching from biggest to littlest – there has always been a good weight difference between them. 

 

 

Now THAT’S what I call identical. And a bit scary.
But I have to admit that even in the cross over period I’ve never really thought that they were impossible to tell apart. Granted there have been moments where I wasn’t sure but they never lasted more than a few minutes.
Sleeping Beauties

 

 
When the girls were born, the Doctor who delivered them said I had a mahoosive placenta weighing around 2kg which apparently is 4 times the average size? It was only later it made me wonder – could it possibly have fused? The only way to be completed sure is to have a private DNA test (apparently Jeremy Kyle isn’t interested if they’re identical… The git) but I don’t know if I would ever do it. 
In my head they are identical twins and it may feel a tad weird if it comes back that they aren’t. Not because I’d be disappointed in any way but because that’s what we’ve always thought. Maybe one day if they really want to find out – but for now. I just love seeing how different yet the same they really are! 

Regardless of anything, I feel so so lucky to have had such a stress free birth and had such healthy twins with no health problems.

Can you tell which is which?

B x

Credits – source of photo @planetjedward

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